I used to see Optional<Something> as a completely useless addition to Java, adding to the bloat of Java without being any clearer than checking if a reference is null.
I have changed my mind, and now think Optional<> can be useful in making code simpler, easier to understand, and more robust.
The reason I changed my mind, was the usefulness of Optional.orElseThrow() when having to traverse deeply nested data structures in Java code.
Steinar Bangs blogg 